Interview with Fatinha Ramos
Can you tell us about the moment you decided to pursue a career as an artist?
After working twelve years as an art director, I realised that I needed to take a leap of faith for the things I really was passionate about. I restarted all over again, and that was the best decision I made in my life.
What kind of an artist do you ultimately see yourself?
I am a visual poet, I like to work conceptually. In addition to editorial illustrations, children’s books, cultural and governmental illustrations, murals, animation, fashion, theater, ceramics, I work mainly on personal artistic projects.
What do you want your art to convey to the people who see it? What is the meaning or creative motivation behind your work?
I want to touch the emotional chord in people. My work often raises important social issues such as global warming, sexism, racism, giving a voice to those who need to be heard.
Can you tell us about the process you use to create your works? What is your typical workday routine?
I wake up between 5 and 6am, and after my meditation and morning shower, I start immediately working, because is in the morning that I am the most creative.
I always start sketching with black pen on paper. For the assignments, I start making the final drawing and I scan it. I work further on Photoshop, then I print it, I paint over the print, and then I scan it again, then I work further on Photoshop and I print it again, and paint again over the print and repeat this till the illustration is ready. For the personal works I work only analogue, with acryl and oil paint.
Where do you find inspiration? What motivates you to create?
Inspiration is everywhere around me, it can be a shadow, a person - I look to the world with different eyes... But I also get inspired by other forms of art like music, films, photography...
The best ideascome from the moment I start working, or when I am doing something else than creating.
What motivates me to create is the impact that I might have in other people when they see my work - so they can see what I see and what I feel... Is the impact
What has been your most outstanding achievement to date?
Ah, so many. Here are three of them:
1 - The children book I illustrated “Sonia Delaunay. A Life Of Color” published by MoMA, the Museum of Modern Art New York, when it won a Global Illustration Award in Frankfurt Book Fair.
2 - The most important building of Antwerp (the Town Hall) a Unesco world heritage building of 450 years old, was undergoing renovations for three years had illustrations all around, plus the side part of it. It was a gigantic project and I am so proud I did it - it was standing for three years around the building.
3 - An illustration I did for Scientific American about Suicide. I won most of the awards in illustration it could have won, but besides that and the most important to me was the fact that that illustration touched people to their deepest.
What are your ultimate career goals?
To keep on being surprised with my work and curious about everything, to keep on learning with the process.
My ultimate goal is not having a goal - is just taking one day at the time and see what happens.
What are you working on now, and what can we expect from you soon?
Unfortunately I was severely injured in an accident and the recovery will take a long time, but at the same time I try to work on personal projects during this process. Drawing is very important to my rehabilitation. In a near future you will be able to see some personal paintings.
